"Serving West and East Village, Chelsea, SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown and the Lower East Side"

Volume 76, Number 40February 28 - March 6, 2007

Editorial/Op-EdMore is needed to stay affordableMayor Bloomberg is the first mayor since Ed Koch to take the citys affordable housing shortage seriously. In five years, Bloomberg has made substantial progress on his goal of preserving or building 68,000 below-market-rate units by next year, but these gains are threatened as more and more large complexes are being taken out of rent-protection programs.

Talking PointThe impeachers are really just wasting their breathBy Ed Gold
The man at the bar turned to me and said: Isnt it about time we impeached Bush?My immediate response: Its a waste of time.
But, the man continued, he doesnt deserve to be president.

Villager photo by Jefferson SiegelGetting whacked in Union SquareSeveral hundred, mostly college-age people showed up in Union Square on Saturday for a gigantic pillow fight. It was promoted by Nevermindspace, a Web site specializing in events that turn the city into a giant play space.

Villager photo by Milo HessA sign of artA signpost adorned with artwork at Greenwich and Desbrosses Sts. in Tribeca.

Sports

Player who got second chance pitches Israel leagueBy Jill Stern
As Village filmmaker Brett Rapkin aptly puts it in Holy Hard Ball, his new documentary on the birth and launch of the new Israel Baseball League, It only took 5,767 years but baseball is finally coming to Israel!

The Hungry March Band playing in Tompkins Square Park a few years ago at a rally for First Amendment rights.

The Hungry March Band are metal heads of another sortBy Brooke Edwards
Calling all trombone players: The Hungry March Band is looking for one talented musician to join its forces. Interested applicants must not be afraid of practicing long hours for little or no pay, of wearing eccentric costumes in front of large crowds and of marching between enthusiastic belly dancers and fire-spinners.

Protesters call immigrant game insensitive, racistBy Lincoln Anderson
Shouting angry slogans and toting protest placards, hundreds of New York University students came out to voice outrage over a game by the university’s student Republican club that lampooned illegal immigration.

Trying to maintain a way of life before it disappearsBy Michael Rosen
This place, the neighborhood or neighborhoods, community or communities we live in  the Lower East Side, Loisaida, the East Village, part of Chinatown, call it what you will  is undergoing a scale and pace of change wrenching the life, many of our lives, from here.

Tilting at towers and defending historic districtsBy Andrew Berman
While strong progress continues to be made on securing preservation measures for much of Greenwich Village  more progress, in fact, than any time since the 1960s  further threats to the neighborhood’s character from more quarters than ever appear every day.

Warhol “wake” becomes a fabulous Factory happeningBy Ed Hamilton
A raw warehouse space in the newly trendy Meatpacking District was transformed into a semblance of Andy Warhol’s Factory for a reading and art opening last Thursday night, February 22, the twentieth anniversary of Warhol’s death

How Bill W. and Dr. Bob got on the wagon, on stageBy Jerry Tallmer
Spotlight up on a man in a pinstriped suit at one side of the stage. “My name is Bill W.,” he says, “and I’m an alcoholic.” Spotlight up on a man in shirtsleeves at the other side of the stage.

Listen to The Villager on Internet Radio:Associate editor Lincoln Anderson and reporter Albert Amateau host guests Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society of Historic Preservation, and David McWater, chairperson of Community Board 3, on The Villager's pilot radio show on Tribecaradio.net. Zoning, preservation and future political aspirations (?) top the list of discussion topics on this 44-minute premiere.

Spreading the wealth for new health clinicsBy Bonnie Rosenstock
Most people would want to forget a near-death experience. But for Vado Diomande, the miracle of surviving inhalation anthrax was a cause for great celebration.

Land use to green design, board leads the debateBy Maria Passannante Derr
Last year was an active year for the members of Community Board 2 and for the citizens who take an interest in Greenwich Village, Soho, Little Italy, Noho and Chinatown.

Taking back Congress, Wash. Sq. and the White House, too, in ’08By Keen Berger
Progress in the past year, what a great theme!
I can report wonderful progress. As your female Democratic district leader, I was thrilled at our victories in the nation and state. One of my daughters phoned me early on the day after the election and said, “Congratulations, Mom, you did it.”

Photo by Jonathan Slaff
UPROOTED BY KATRINA Hurricane Katrina forces a child from her home in New Orleans and leaves her in a strange new world with distant relatives in New York. Musical is based on the book The Further Adventures of Uncle Wiggily: Windblown Visitors, by Laurel Hessing. March 1-25. THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, Joyce & Seward Johnson Theater, 155 1st Ave. at 10th St. $12, $5 kids. 212-254-1109. www.theaterforthenewcity.net. Pictured above are Christopher Grant, left, Craig Meade and Clara Ruf Maldonado.